Copyright information management system

ABSTRACT

A copyright information management system supporting the management and protection of products comprised of digitalized multimedia content in a product distribution environment. The copyright information management system ( 10 ) provides a copyright information management center ( 11 ), provided in a product distribution environment ( 15 ) where products are distributed through communications lines ( 14 ) between a product provider ( 12 ) including at least one of a copyright owner and distributor and a product user ( 13 ) receiving the product, for exchanging information relating to the products through the communications lines ( 14 ). The copyright information management center ( 11 ) centrally manages all copyright information through the communications lines ( 14 ) by preregistering copyright information relating to the individual products in the center ( 11 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a copyright information managementsystem enabling unrestricted distribution of digital content over theInternet while protecting copyrights by centralized management ofcopyright information.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a copyrightinformation management system, in a product distribution environmentwhere a product is distributed by communication lines over the Internetetc. between a product provider comprising at least one of the copyrightowner which created the product and the distributor distributing theproduct to the market and a product user receiving the product from thecopyright provider, which provides a copyright information managementcenter for facilitating retrieval of copyright information regardingindividual products existing in the environment, constructs a databaseto centrally manage the copyright information, and embeds the copyrightinformation in the product as digital watermark information so as topromote transactions of the product and prevent illicit use of thecopyright.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, along with the rapid spread and development ofmultimedia technology, there has been a surge in multimedia products.These products are treated as commodities to be bought and sold betweenproduct providers and product users as important content. Along with theincreasing complexity and diversity of products, the copyrights for theproducts have become complex and diverse in type. Management of suchcopyrights has become difficult. How to deal with infringement ofcopyrights due to use of a product without authorization of the productprovider is also becoming complex.

In view of this situation, copyright information management has in thepast been achieved through protection by copyright associations set upfor individual product media. That is, these copyright associationsseparately managed the corresponding products information and protectedcopyrights using that information. The products to be protected were inthe most part so-called analog content.

There have been the following problems under the above-mentionedtechnical background:

The mechanisms for management of copyright information in the past werenot designed for the purpose of supporting the distribution of productsbetween product providers and product users. Therefore, it was difficultto search for, e.g., products required by product users. Even if arequired product was found by some method etc., it was not possible toknow the handling of the copyright information or the licensingconditions and other matters relating to that product. In the end, therewas the problem that transactions of the product could not besuccessfully completed. This in turn led to copyright infringement.

On the other hand, looking at the problem of copyright infringement, thedevelopment of multimedia technology, in particular the spectacularspread of the Internet, has led to a sharp rise in the amount ofdigitalized multimedia content, that is, digital content. The percent ofthis in all products has become greater. In today's world, wherereplication of products has become easy, there is therefore the problemthat it is difficult to prove illicit use of products.

Further, the environment behind the distribution of products has changeddramatically. Under the current situation, where products consisting ofdigital content are flooding in the Internet, management and protectionof copyrights are becoming increasingly difficult.

In addition to this, copyright laws are being amended to strengthenprotection of copyrights. With the environment surrounding copyrightsthus dramatically changing, it is urgent to construct a system whichreliably manages and protects copyrights.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The inventors engaged in intensive studies to solve the above problemsand as a result came up with the idea of supporting the distribution ofproducts and achieving reliable, easy discovery of infringement ofcopyrights by embedding various information relating to this in theproducts themselves as digital watermark information and centrallymanaging various information relating to copyrights including thatinformation at a copyright information management center and therebycompleted the present invention.

Therefore, the present invention has as its object the provision of acopyright information management system which provides hardware andrelated software support for the management and protection of copyrightinformation so as to enable reliable handling of the huge amount ofdigital content, support the distribution of products, and enablereliable and easy discovery of copyright infringement.

To achieve this object, the present invention provides a copyrightinformation management system (10) which assists the management andprotection of products comprised of digitalized multimedia content in aproduct distribution environment. The copyright information managementsystem (10) provides a copyright information management center (11),provided in a product distribution environment (15) where products aredistributed through communications lines (14) between a product provider(12) comprising at least one of a copyright owner and distributor and aproduct user (13) receiving the product, for exchanging informationrelating to the product through the communications lines (14). Thecopyright information management center (11) centrally manages allcopyright information through the communications lines (14) bypreregistering copyright information relating to the individual productsin the center (11).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of the basic configuration of a copyright informationmanagement system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view of the copyright information managementsystem according to the present invention as a whole;

FIG. 3 is a view of the functions of a copyright information managementcenter;

FIG. 4 is a view of a digital watermark information management function;

FIG. 5 is a view of a specific example of the configuration of acopyright information management system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a view of an example of the hardware configuration forrealizing the system 10;

FIG. 7 is a view of an example of the software configuration forrealizing the system 10;

FIG. 8 is a view of an example of information of a copyright owner whichcan be managed at the center 11;

FIG. 9 is an example of product information which can be managed at thecenter 11;

FIG. 10 is a view of an example of digital watermark information whichcan be managed at the center 11; and

FIG. 11 is a view of an example of the display of copyright informationon a home page 51.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view of the basic configuration of the copyright informationmanagement system according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 10 indicates the copyright informationmanagement system and is comprised of a copyright information managementcenter 11 including a database (DB), product providers 12, product users13, and communications lines 14 connecting the same. The center 11 isintroduced into a product distribution environment 15 formed by theproduct providers 12 and product users 13.

That is, the copyright information management system 10 provides acopyright information management center 11, provided in a productdistribution environment 15 where products are distributed throughcommunications lines 14 between product providers 12 including at leastone of copyright owners and distributors and product users 13 receivingthe products, for exchanging information relating to the productsthrough the communications lines 14 with both the product providers 12and the product users 13.

The copyright information management center 11 centrally manages allcopyright information present in the products distribution environment15 through the communications lines 14 by preregistering in it productprovider information relating to the product providers and productinformation relating to the individual products.

Further, the center 11 provides in the copyright information managementsystem 10 a digital watermark embedding means by which at least one ofthe copyright owners and the distributors can embed copyrightinformation relating to products as digital watermark informationdirectly in the data forming the products.

This centralized management of the copyright information facilitatessearches for the ownership of copyrights and updating the ownership andassists smooth distribution of products. Further, the introduction ofdigital watermark information enables prevention of illicit use ofcopyrights. Therefore, a management system enabling centralizedmanagement of copyrights, promotion of smooth distribution of products,and support for protection of copyrights can be realized as a totalsystem.

Various terms are used in the system of the present invention explainedin FIG. 1 and later. The important terms will first be defined.

First, the major components of the system may be roughly divided into(i) product providers and (ii) product users. Here, a “product provider”(i) includes both a (iii) copyright owner and (iv) distributor.

On the other hand, looking at the information handled in the system, useis made of the term (a) copyright information in the broadest sense.This copyright information (a) may be roughly divided into (b) productprovider information and (c) product information.

Here, the (b) product provider information is comprised of (d) copyrightowner information and (e) distributor information. The productinformation (c) includes both (f) respective copyright information(copyright information in narrow sense) and (g) work information.

To supplement this, the (b) product provider information indicatesinformation relating to the (i) product provider such as the name andaddress of the (iii) copyright owner producing the product, the name andaddress of the (iv) distributor, etc. Further, the (c) productinformation consists of the (f) respective copyright information such asthe copyright owner, the licensing conditions, etc. and the (g) workinformation such as the name of the work, classification of the work,etc. of the product.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view of the copyright information managementsystem according to the present invention as a whole. Note thatthroughout the figures, similar components are assigned the samereference numerals or symbols.

In FIG. 2, the copyright information management center (hereinafter alsoreferred to simply as the “center”) 11 is provided with various types ofdatabases (DB). Various information relating to the copyrights arecollected and registered there.

<1> After completing a creation of a product, the product provider 12,that is, the copyright owner, transmits first the individual informationand then information on the product through the path <1> in the figureto the copyright information management center 11 for registration. Notethat the path <1> is formed on an existing communications line 14. Thesame applies to the paths <2> to <7> explained below.

The product provider 12 has various databases (DB) shown in the figure.“A” in the figure shows a product, for example, a photograph.

<2> The data forming the product may have digital watermark informationdirectly embedded in it. The W (watermark) in the figure indicates theprocess for embedding the digital watermark information.

The thus embedded digital watermark information is transmitted to andregistered in the center 11 through the path <2>. Further, when thedigital watermark information is non-open information, explained later,a digital watermark key used for embedding the non-open information isalso sent to, through the path <2>, and registered in the center 11.

<3> The product providers 12 include distributors such as publishersengaged in transactions of products in addition to the copyright owners.

<4> Products are actually bought and sold between product users 13 andproduct providers 12, in particular, distributors.

When a certain product is desired, the intention to purchase it isindicated through the path <4>.

<5> The product (digital content) relating to the above transaction isdelivered through the path <5>.

As the method of delivery, there are specifically the method ofdownloading the digital content through a web browser afterauthentication (that is, after confirmation of settlement), the methodof delivery by e-mail, etc. Further, there is the method of delivery bythe transmission of an encrypted digital work (digital content) and adecrypter key for decrypting the same separately from a server.

In addition, it is also possible to use off-line delivery (package sale)such as sale of a CD-ROM etc., but the above on-line delivery promotesand speeds up distribution of the product.

<6> After the above transaction is completed, the user pays thedistributor in accordance with a bill. The user is billed through thepath <6>.

The method of settlement relating to the above billing and paymentincludes specifically the following off-line settlement and on-linesettlement. The settlement is normally performed integrally with theabove delivery <5>.

Off-line settlement includes methods such as bank remittance, check,money order, and cash-on-delivery.

On the other hand, on-line settlement includes credit card payment orsettlement by electronic money. The former is suited for settlement oflarge amounts, while the latter is mainly by a prepaid system and issuited for settlement of small amounts.

<7> The product user often desires to make inquiries to confirm detailedinformation relating to the product of the transaction (later mentionedopen information) at the time of the transaction or after thetransaction is completed. Such inquiries can also be made at the center11. The path for this is the path <7>. Here, if the digital watermarkinformation embedded in the product, for example, the copyright owner IDor product ID etc., is used as a retrieval key, the inquiry can beeasily performed.

Note that here the explanation was given of an embodiment of the systemin an environment where the product is bought and sold, but of coursethe present system can also be applied to an intra-office system of acompany etc. as well. If the present system is applied to anintra-office system, it is possible to achieve copyright informationmanagement at the time of distribution of a product in a company.

FIG. 3 is a view of the functions of the copyright informationmanagement center.

The copyright information management function is integrated with thedigital watermark information management function shown in FIG. 4 andachieves smoother distribution and more reliable distribution. That is,the copyright information management system 10 of the present inventionis, in the most preferable embodiment, configured by a first subsystemperforming the above copyright information management function and asecond subsystem performing the above digital watermark informationmanagement function. More particularly, the system 10 is configured by afirst subsystem having a copyright information management program unitand a second subsystem having a digital watermark information managementprogram unit.

In FIG. 3, the first subsystem is comprised of a database 21, a productprovider registration means 22, a product information registration means23, a copyright information inquiry means 24, a copyright informationupdating means 25, and a copyright information deletion means 26.

Therefore, the above copyright information management program unit isprovided with a database for holding data relating to the copyrightinformation to be managed, a product provider registration program, aproduct information registration program, a copyright informationupdating program, and a copyright information inquiry program. Inaddition, it may have a copyright information deletion program.

The database 21 is comprised of at least a product provider database, arespective copyright information database, a work database, and adigital watermark information database. These are illustrated in thecenter 11 of FIG. 2.

The product provider registration means 22 has the function ofregistering product provider information in the center 11.

When product provider information is registered by the above means 22,the center 11 issues a product provider ID for use in a retrieval keyfor searching for the product provider in the product distributionenvironment 15. The data input by the product provider is registered inthe above product provider database together with the product providerID.

The product information registration means 23 has the function ofregistering product information relating to the created product in thecenter 11.

When product information is registered by the means 23, the center 11issues a product ID (work ID) for use for a retrieval key for searchingfor the product information in the product distribution environment 15.The data input by the copyright owner is registered in the above workdatabase or respective copyright information database together with theproduct ID.

The copyright information inquiry means 24 has the function of inquiringabout copyright information registered in the center 11. That is, theproduct user inquiring about the product provider and the product makesan inquiry using the product provider ID or the product ID etc. as aretrieval key.

The copyright information updating means 25 updates the copyrightinformation registered in the center 11. The copyright informationdeletion means 26 has the function of deleting the copyright informationregistered in the center 11. At least one of these means 25 and 26should be provided.

The copyright information updating means 25 is used by the productprovider. When the copyright information is changed (address is changedor succession of right occurs), the product provider updates theinformation through the home page (51 of FIG. 5) of the copyrightinformation management center 11 through a communications line (forexample, the Internet).

The copyright information deletion means 26 is used by the productprovider. It deletes copyright information relating to the product forwhich the copyright no longer has to be managed by the copyrightinformation management center 11.

FIG. 4 is a view of the digital watermark information managementfunction and shows the above second subsystem.

In FIG. 4, the above second subsystem is comprised of a digitalwatermark embedding means 31, a digital watermark key database 32, adigital watermark detection means 33, a digital watermark display means34, and a digital watermark key management means 35.

Therefore, the above digital watermark information management programunit is provided with a digital watermark embedding program, a digitalwatermark detection program, a digital watermark display program, adigital watermark key management program, and a digital watermark keydatabase.

The digital watermark embedding means 31, as explained above, embeds thecopyright information relating to a product as digital watermarkinformation directly in data forming the product.

The digital watermark key database 32 is a digital watermark keyregistration database forming one of the above group of databases.

The digital watermark detection means 33 detects the digital watermarkinformation from the data forming the product.

The product user 13 can simultaneously view the image of the product andthe digital watermark information by the digital watermark display means34 using digital watermark display software.

At that time, it is possible to make a detailed inquiry about thecopyright information of the image at the center 11 in accordance withneed.

The digital watermark information explained above is comprised of one orboth of open information able to be detected by the product user 13 fromthe data forming the product and non-open information unable to bedetected by the product user 13 from that data.

Further, the digital watermark information forming the non-openinformation is embedded and detected using the above digital watermarkkey. The digital watermark key is registered in the center 11.

The copyright owner and the distributor provide the copyrightinformation embedded in the product as digital watermark information atthe time of delivering the product to the product user 13. At this time,the digital watermark key used when embedding the digital watermarkinformation is registered in the copyright information management center11. By centrally managing digital watermark keys at the center 11, it ispossible to improve the reliability of distribution.

The digital watermark will be explained in further detail here.

A digital watermark is a type of information concealed in digital data.In particular, it is information such as the name of the copyright ownerembedded in a part of video or audio digital data which is not importantto human perception or redundant parts in a manner not lowering thequality of the data.

In general, the location where a digital watermark not using a digitalwatermark key is embedded in the data is fixed. If the embedded locationis fixed, removal or tampering with the embedded information becomeseasy for an unscrupulous third person. Therefore, the embedded locationis determined randomly. A digital watermark key is used for thispurpose. Information on where and how the digital watermark is embeddedin the data is set in the digital watermark key.

The above open information and non-open information are differentiatedwhether or not the digital watermark key exists. Open information can beembedded and detected without the digital watermark key. Therefore,information desired to be displayed such as the name of the copyrightowner is displayed as open information. On the other hand, digitalwatermark information provided as non-open information cannot bedetected from data by the user having no digital watermark key.Therefore, the center 11 has the above digital watermark key managementmeans 35.

The embedding and detection of the digital watermark will be explainedin more detail next. The digital watermark software used for thisembedding and detection is not limited to any specific digital watermarksoftware. Any digital watermark software may be used. The system of thepresent invention covers not only still images, but also moving imagesas digital content, so the digital watermark software preferably canhandle both still images and moving images.

Further, the copyright protection information is embedded as non-openinformation using digital watermark keys, so preferably the system canhandle two types of digital watermark information, that is, openinformation and non-open information.

Further, the system of the present invention is characterized by thecopyright owners and distributors or plurality of distributorssuccessively embedding digital watermark information as productproviders, so the digital watermark software preferably can embed thedigital watermark information hierarchically. As the digital watermarksoftware satisfying these requirements, there is for example the SysCoP(registered trademark) of MediaSec Technologies LLC of the U.S.

FIG. 5 is a view of a specific example of the configuration of acopyright information management system according to the presentinvention.

In this specific example of the configuration, the product distributionenvironment 15 is configured by the network where the communicationslines 14 are realized by the Internet. Here, the copyright informationmanagement center 11 is comprised of a worldwide web (WWW) server.Further, the copyright owners and distributors (product providers 12)and product users 13 are all provided with WWW browsers through whichthey connect to the Internet.

The above network is constructed by a client and server system. Here,the copyright information management center 11 functions as a server,while the product providers 12 and the product users 13 function asclients receiving the service of the database (DB) by which the center11 registers and manages copyright information.

Further, the center 11 is provided with a database (DB) for registeringand managing copyright information, functions as a copyright informationmanagement server 41, and functions as a WWW server 42 to which theproduct providers 12 and product users 13 access.

Still further, the product providers 12 function as clients embeddingcopyright information regarding the products as digital watermarkinformation directly in the data forming the products.

The digital watermark embedding means 31 (FIG. 4) is comprised of awatermark embedding server 43.

Further, the digital watermark detection means 33 (FIG. 4) is formed asa detection-use user interface 44 in a terminal 52 of a product user 13.

Here, breaking the above client and server system down into its basicclient and server components, there are four classes of the copyrightinformation management server, copyright owner client, distributorclient, and product user client.

The copyright information management server mounts a database server andWWW server and constitutes the copyright information management center11.

The copyright owner client is used by copyright owners to registercopyright information and embed digital watermark information in thedigital content.

The distributor client is used by distributors to embed digitalwatermark information into the digital content which they are entrustedto sell by the copyright owners.

The product user client can detect the digital watermark information andcan inquire about copyright information.

Information is transferred between the server and clients through theWWW server and WWW browsers. Here, the TCP/IP base HTTP protocol isused.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, an explanation will be made focusing on themain processing in the copyright information management system 10according to the present invention. The copyright information managementsystem 10 according to the example of the configuration of the presentfigure is comprised of the above first subsystem forming the bulk ofFIG. 3 and the second subsystem forming the bulk of FIG. 4 combinedtogether. Note that in the figure, A, B . . . indicate various originalimages as products (originals), while a, a1, a2 . . . indicate variouswatermark images as digital watermark information.

(1) Registration of Copyright Owner Information (See (1) in FIG. 5)

A copyright owner using the service of this system 10 registersinformation such as the name, address, and affiliated organization asthe copyright owner information in the copyright information managementcenter 11 in advance. The registration is performed using the Internetfrom the home page 51 of the copyright information management center 11(p in FIG. 5). Once registered, a copyright owner ID is issued alongwith a password from the center 11 (q). The copyright owner ID isutilized as the retrieval key for searching for the product in thesystem 10 from then on.

(2) Registration of Product Information (See (2) in FIG. 5)

When a product (work) is created, the various information relating tothe work, that is, the work information (name of work, type, explanationof content, etc.), and information relating to the copyright of thework, that is, the respective copyright information (name of copyrightowner, type of product such as photograph or moving picture, date ofdisclosure, etc.) are registered on the home page 51 of the center 11(p). When finished being registered, a product ID (work ID) is issued(q). The product ID is utilized as the retrieval key for the product inthe system 10 from then on.

The system 10 can handle, as digital content, photographs as stillimages and moving pictures as moving images. Still images can be handledas JPEG files, while moving images can be handled as MPEG files.

(3) Embedding of Digital Watermark (for Copyright Owner, See (3) inFigure)

When transferring a created work to the product user 13 or distributor12, the digital watermark information (a1), for example, product ID orcopyright owner ID, is embedded as the above open information. Due tothis, the product user can obtain information on the product, thecopyright owner, and the copyright by just viewing the product.

Next, the name of the distributor etc. is embedded as the above non-openinformation (a1 using digital watermark key).

(4) Embedding of Digital Watermark (for Distributor, See (4) in Figure)

The distributor using the service of the system 10 registers theinformation in advance in the copyright information management center 11in the same way as the copyright owner of the above (1). A password anddistributor ID are issued by the center 11 so that it is enabled toembed only non-open information in the digital watermark information.The distributor embeds for example the distributor ID or the name of theproduct user to which the product is delivered (a2) in the productcomprised of the digital content received from the copyright owner.

(5) Display of Digital Watermark (Open Information)

The product ID, product provider ID, or other open information (a)embedded in the digital content is detected ((5) in figure).

When desiring to obtain more detailed information relating to thedigital content, it is possible to refer to the copyright informationmanagement center 11 using these IDs as retrieval keys (see (5)′ infigure). Note that it is also possible to refer to the center 11 usingthe name of the copyright owner or the name of the work as a retrievalkey in addition to the above IDs.

(6) Display of Digital Watermark (Non-Open Information)

Detection of non-open information requires the above digital watermarkkey. The digital watermark key is registered in the center 11 (32)through the illustrated route r in the case of the copyright owner andthrough the illustrated route s in the case of the distributor.

The name of the distributor (a1), the name of the product user (a2), andother digital watermark information embedded in the digital content canbe fetched. However, only the person (12) embedding the digitalwatermark information can detect it using the digital watermark key.

(7) Delivery of Product

The product is delivered through the route u by the image providing WWWserver 45.

The server 45 conversely also receives the application for use from theproduct user (route v). Due to this, the product user is able toimmediately acquire the product desired to use.

(8) Inquiry About Copyright Information (See (8) in Figure)

For example, when the product user 13 confirms whether the product ithas acquired was distributed through a proper channel, it can open thehome page 51 of the copyright information management center 11 by theillustrated route t to easily read the information. At this time, thedigital watermark information embedded in the digital content held bythe product user 13 and the information managed by the center 11 shouldmatch. If they do not match, the digital content held is judged to havepossibly been illicitly copied.

An example of the configuration for realizing the copyright informationmanagement system 10 shown in FIG. 5, in which the above main processing(1) to (8) are performed, is shown below. This example shows examples ofthe hardware configuration, software configuration, and informationtransferred in the product distribution environment 15.

FIG. 6 is a view of an example of the hardware configuration forrealizing the system 10.

FIG. 7 is a view of an example of the software configuration forrealizing the system 10.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, however, are simple examples of the configuration.The invention is not limited to these. A person skilled in the art couldvery easily come up with various other configurations having similarfunctions.

Further, regarding the above information,

FIG. 8 is a view of an example of information of the copyright ownerable to be managed by the center 11,

FIG. 9 is an example of the product information able to be managed bythe center 11, and

FIG. 10 is a view of an example of the digital watermark informationable to be managed by the center 11.

The above various information is stored in one of the various databasesshown in FIG. 2 (21 in FIG. 3) and is displayed on the copyrightinformation management home page 51 of FIG. 5. The non-open informationin the digital watermark information, however, is only displayed whenthe product provider inquires about it using the digital watermark key.

FIG. 11 is a view of an example of the display of copyright informationon the home page 51. This shows however only part of the information inthe database shown in FIG. 9.

The copyright information management system 10 was explained abovefocusing on the basic components, but in actual operation on theInternet, a person skilled in the art would naturally consider theexpandability and maintainability of the system 10. The presentinvention is designed as follows relating to expandability andmaintainability. Therefore, the following is included in the technicalscope of the present invention.

(i) Expandability

1) Expandability of Type of Product Covered

The system 10 of the present invention was explained above as coveringdigital content and handling products of photographs as still imagesusing JPEG files and products of moving pictures as moving images usingMPEG files, but is not limited to the same. It can handle all formats ofdigital content including music as well. Therefore, envisioning anincrease in the types of products handled in the future, the productsare managed coded in type.

2) Copyright Owner Code Proposed by CISAC

Various industrial sectors in the West etc. are moving to standardizecopyright information, for example, product codes. As one example, anexplanation will be made of the coding of copyright owners proposed bythe CISAC. The CISAC (International Confederation of Societies ofAuthors and Composers) is a nonprofit private European organization. TheCISAC has proposed the following code. Note that the figures inparentheses indicate the number of bytes.

TABLE 1 Year Country Producer code + Check (4) code (3) work no. (9)digit (1)

Year: Date of disclosure (4 bytes)

Country code: Country code designated by ISO and JIS (3 bytes)

Producer+Work no.=9 bytes

Check Digit=1 byte

The system 10 can accept the above codes at any time.

3) Copyright Owner Code used in System 10 of Present Invention

Regarding the codes proposed by the CISAC, the Producer Code and theWork no. have not yet defined and thus they are not available atpresent.

However, according to the system 10 of the present invention, it is easyto cope with the international standardization of the copyright ownercode in the future by setting the same as shown below.

TABLE 2 Country Class of Class of Copyright code (3) work (2) product(2) owner no. (6)

Country Code: Country code designated by ISO and JIS (3 bytes)

Type of work: Class code of the work such as photograph, movie,language, art, etc. (2 bytes)

Type of product: Class code such as corporate product, general product,joint product, etc. (2 bytes)

Copyright owner no.: Serial number in order of registration (6 bytes)

The copyright owner generally belongs to various industrialorganizations or associations. A code has already been assigned to it asa member number in its affiliated organization. Therefore, by replacingthe copyright owner number of the system 10 of the present inventionwith the existing member number, cooperation with an existing systembecomes easy.

4) Connectability with Digital Library

The image management software used differs depending on the environmentof the product user 13, the amount of data, and the application, so thecenter 11 provides software used by the product user 13 for managing theimages or an interface with the system when the system 10 is introduced.

5) Use of Search Robots

Search robots are used to monitor infringement of copyrights. Theyinclude patrol types and agent types.

In the patrol type, WWW servers around the world are patrolled to detectdigital watermark information from the digital content in the WWWservers to monitor for copyright infringement.

In the agent system, agent servers are installed for detection ofdigital watermark information in the www servers of the product users inadvance. Agent programs are run on the agent servers for monitoring forcopyright infringement.

6) Use of Master Files

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the information to be registered in the center11 includes a vast range of information. Master files are preferablyprepared in advance for typical information in the various information,for example, information on the “type of work”, information on the“disclosed figure”, etc. shown in FIG. 9 to select the correspondinginformation or data from the master files. By enabling requiredinformation to be selected and registered from the master files in thisway, the convenience of use of the center 11 to the system users isgreatly improved.

(ii) Maintainability

1) Modulization

The components (11, 12, 13) of the system 10 are formed as nodes on theInternet. Therefore, by improving the modularity, the maintainability ofthe system as a whole can be enhanced.

2) Software Management of Server

Many functions are installed in the copyright information managementcenter 11. Further, the different sites and clients are designed so asnot to require much special software. When unavoidable, the software isprepared as plug-in type software of the WWW browser to enable immediateuse by downloading from the server (copyright information managementcenter). By central management of the software by the center 11, themaintainability of the system as a whole can be improved.

As explained in detail above, according to the copyright informationmanagement system 10 of the present invention, it becomes possible tofacilitate and smooth transactions of multimedia information, inparticular, products, delivered in large volumes over the Internet.Further, it becomes possible to fully protect copyrights and realize acompletely new product distribution environment.

A look at the system 10 by the different levels of users shows that thefollowing effects can be enjoyed:

Copyright owners: Copyright owners can simply register information onthe copyright owners themselves and register various other informationrelating to the copyrights of the products at the copyright informationmanagement center 11 from their own terminals. Further, the copyrightowners can directly deliver products to the product users 13, commissionsales to distributors (12), and otherwise distribute their productssimply from their own terminals. Further, copyrights can be completelyprotected by inserting digital watermark information in the products.

Distributors: The distributors (12) entrusted with the sale of theproduct can easily insert any digital watermark information such as thename of the product user delivered to in the entrusted products (digitalcontent) and can prevent useless disputes over copyrights in advance.

Product users: The product users 13 can easily acquire digital contentat any time from any place. Further, they can view the digital watermarkinformation embedded in the acquired digital content to confirm thelocation of the copyright and safely use the product.

Copyright information management center: The center 11 centrally managesthe product information and the copyright information of productprovider and can provide copyright information immediately in answer toan inquiry from individual product users 13. As a result, trade in theproduct is promoted.

Further, since the digital watermark information and digital watermarkkey information are also centrally managed, it is possible to compareinformation initially registered by the copyright owner againstinformation actually embedded in the digital content in a short timeperiod. If the result of the comparison is that the two informationdiffer, it can be immediately determined that the product has beenillicitly copied or tampered with and therefore the effects of thecopyright infringement can be held to a minimum.

1. A copyright information management system comprising: A first subsystem having a copyright information management program unit that manages copyright information in a copyright information management center as a part of a product distribution environment electronic transmission that exchanges products, in the form of digital content, through electronic transmission; and a second subsystem having a digital watermark information management program unit that operates in cooperation with the copyright information management program unit, wherein the copyright information management center centrally manages copyright information in the product distribution environment through electronic transmission by preregistering copyright information relating to digital content products, the preregistered copyright information comprising product provider information and product information, and the above copyright information management program unit is provided with a database for registering and managing copyright information, a product provider registration program, a product information registration program, a copyright information inquiry program, and at least one of a copyright information updating program and a copyright information deletion program.
 2. A copyright information management system comprising: a first subsystem having a copyright information management program unit that manages copyright information in a copyright information management center as part of a product distribution environment electronic transmission that exchanges products, in the form of digital content, through electronic transmission; and a second subsystem having a digital watermark information management program unit that operates in cooperation with the copyright information management program unit, wherein the copyright information management center centrally manages copyright information in the product distribution environment through electronic transmission by preregistering copyright information relating to digital content products, the preregistered copyright information comprising provider information and product information, and the digital watermark information management program unit is provided with a digital watermark embedding program, a digital watermark detection program, a digital watermark display program, a digital watermark key management program, and a digital watermark key database. 